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OBJECTORS have lost their hard-fought battle against plans for a windfarm on Rossendale's moors, creating a new storm of protest.

Approval for the £50M scheme, which will see the installation of 26 turbines at the site, was announced on Wednesday by Malcolm Wicks in his first speech as Energy Minister at an All-Energy conference in Aberdeen.

And bosses at Peel Holdings Limited, the firm behind the project, say work could begin by next spring.

The news came as a shock to Rossendale MP Janet Anderson, who had checked with the Minister's office this week, only to be told the inspector's report was still on his desk awaiting a decision.

'I shall be contacting the Edenfield Village Residents' Association but I don't know where we go from here. There is the possibility of a judicial review, although that would be very costly. I will see if I can raise it in the Chamber.'

Local councils and a huge number of residents and organisations joined a campaign against the proposed development, with many giving evidence at a public inquiry into the matter.

And ecologist and television personality David Bellamy joined windfarm protesters in a minute's silence on Scout Moor in November 2003.

Ann Metcalfe, campaign leader for the Friends of Scout and Knowl Moor, described it as a sad day, saying: 'The decision goes against the wishes of the four townships and against the wishes of a huge number of local people.

'I feel the damage it is going to cost to the landscape is too high a price to pay for the limited amount of power it will produce.'

Rossendale Council leader Duncan Ruddick said he was disappointed that the campaign had failed and local people's views had not been listened to.

And a devastated Tony Graham, chairman of Edenfield Residents' Association, said: 'We were hoping at the back of our minds that common sense would prevail. I am very, very sad.

'We did our best, but I don't believe there is any appeal against it now.'

Alan Johnson, of Bacup, countryside officer for the Ramblers Association in North East Lancashire, said he was particularly angry at a paragraph in the inspector's report which said the changes to the landscape from the 100-metre high turbines reflected the industrial history of the local landscape adapting to new challenges.

Mr Johnson said: 'He is saying it is all right to put industry in this part of the country because of what we have suffered already and we are not entitled to our countryside. I am sickened by that.'

Announcing the decision, the Energy Minister said: 'I want there to be no doubt of our determination to push ahead on renewables.

'Energy policy was set in the White Paper for the long term and our target of generating 10 per cent of electricity from renewables by 2010 is central to it. This will help us to meet our climate-change commitments and build reliable energy supplies.'

He said the windfarm would generate enough electricity to power 30,000 homes.